1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rearview mirror apparatus, which has a one pivot mechanism, provided inside a vehicle (inside mirror). The terms “front” and “rear” have been defined based on the advancing direction of the vehicle.
2) Description of the Related Art
Inside mirrors have been described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,836,648, 5,016,979, and 5,615,857. In the inside mirror described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,648, a spherical portion 7a of a stay 7, and a two-piece bracket 20 of a mirror assembly 1 are mounted to be tiltable mutually. In the inside mirror described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,979, a spherical portion 3 of a stay 1 and a three-piece bracket 5 of a mirror assembly are mounted to be tiltable mutually. In the inside mirror described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 5,615,857, a retain cup 122 of a stay 36 and a spherical portion 46 of a mirror assembly 52 are mounted to be tiltable mutually.
The inside mirror generally has a stay, one end of which is fixed to some place inside the vehicle, and a mirror assembly mounted tiltably to the other end of the stay via one pivot mechanism. The one pivot mechanism generally includes a spherical portion and a bracket or a cup. The inside mirror is an important accessory that gives a view of the rear side of the vehicle. The driver can adjust the position and the angle of the inside mirror, so that a desired view can be obtained, according to figure, physique and posture of the driver. Such an adjustment is performed by tilting the mirror assembly in the pivot mechanism with respect to the stay. The tilting range of the inside mirror is such that the drivers with any type of figure, physique, and posture can adjust the inside mirror to obtain the desired view.
One example of the predetermined tilting range of the mirror assembly is such that, for instance, a normal of the reflecting surface of the mirror assembly tilts 12° upward and 15° downward with respect to a horizontal line.
However, the conventional inside mirror is for the exclusive use of one type of a vehicle. Namely, although a tilting angle of an mounting surface with respect to the horizontal line is different according to types of vehicles, the conventional inside mirror can cope only with the mounting surface with a tilting angle in one type of a vehicle. For this reason, when one end of the stay of the conventional inside mirror is mounted to an mounting surface of a vehicle with different tilting angle, a predetermined or more tilting range of the mirror assembly cannot be obtained, and it is difficult to secure a rear field of view. Since the conventional inside mirror is for the exclusive use of one type of a vehicle, an inside mirror should be designed and manufactured for respective types of vehicles, and this causes a problem that the cost of an inside mirror becomes high.